Doctors, insurance and emergencies in Krakow

Who insures you

An employer registers you with ZUS, and that registration is what puts you in the system. If nobody insures you, and you are not covered as a family member or under another EU or EFTA system, you can contract voluntary cover directly with NFZ provided you live in Poland. The premium is 9% of a declared monthly income that cannot be lower than the average enterprise-sector wage, which for July to September 2026 sets the minimum at 845.67 zł a month. That figure is reset every quarter from a GUS announcement, so ask for the current quarter's number rather than budgeting on this one.

• Non-EU students, and non-EU nationals on an adaptation traineeship or a Polish-language or preparatory course, pay 55.80 zł a month and are exempt from the gap charge entirely.

The gap charge

Before NFZ signs a voluntary contract it bills you for the time you were insured nowhere: at least 1,879.27 zł for three months to a year, 4,698.16 zł for one to two years, 9,396.33 zł for two to five, 14,094.50 zł for five to ten, and 18,792.66 zł beyond that. Longer gaps can be paid in instalments on application. The S-041 certificate proving the period you were insured in your previous country is what removes the charge. It is far easier to obtain while you still live there.

Paying, and keeping the cover alive

Voluntary contributions go to an individual ZUS account number, monthly and indivisibly, by the 20th of the following month, including for a part month. Miss the payment and the entitlement lapses. Cover begins on the date named in the contract and expires 30 days after the contract ends or is terminated.

Registering with a clinic, and being checked at the desk

You join the public system by filing a deklaracja wyboru naming a specific GP, nurse and midwife at the clinic you want, on paper there or online through the Internetowe Konto Pacjenta. IKP also tells you which clinic and doctor you are currently registered with, which is worth checking before an appointment. At the point of care your entitlement is verified electronically through eWUŚ: you give your PESEL and show an ID card, passport or driving licence, and for school-age children up to 18 a school ID. If eWUŚ shows you as uninsured but you believe you are covered, you can be treated on other proof such as an employer's certificate, or by signing a written declaration of entitlement, which makes you liable for the cost of the treatment if it turns out to be untrue and you were not honestly mistaken about being covered.

• EU and EFTA nationals covered under the coordination regulations normally prove entitlement on paper rather than through eWUŚ.
• They present an EKUZ, a provisional replacement certificate, a poświadczenie issued in Poland, or an E112, S2, S3, E123 or DA1 form. This is what you use in the weeks before your Polish registration is live.

Where to go, and when

Primary care runs Monday to Friday, 08:00 to 18:00, excluding public holidays. Outside those hours, nocna i świąteczna opieka zdrowotna covers 18:00 to 08:00 on weekdays and runs around the clock on public holidays, and it is the right destination for a sudden illness that is not life-threatening. Hospital emergency departments, the SOR, take patients without a referral and without any residence restriction, and treat in order of clinical severity rather than order of arrival. For a direct and sudden threat to life, call 112 or 999; NFZ draws no distinction between the two.